Ticket: “The best mobile games are those that don't try to be console games” – News

Confinement is also to face the obvious: without Switch available, I had to rely on my smartphone to make short gaming sessions and without headache. It was the first time I really took the time to play on my phone. And after a few hours spent on Lara Croft Go and Downwell, I understood why some mobile titles are particularly catchy and why others are less.

I have never been drawn to mobile video games. No more than that anyway, especially with a Switch on hand. My few tries have led me to uninteresting rhythm games and almost unplayable skateboarding games – some people know my love for the genre. But some titles still caught my attention : Super Mario Run for its pleasant transcription of the flagship license of Nintendo (which unfortunately did not succeed in doing Mario Kart Tour); Geometry Dash for its symbiosis between requirement and music; or Battleheart for its effective gameplay at your fingertips.

Informative confinement

Recently, other mobile games have made me even more excited. Especially in comparison to another title with more classic controls. To prepare for the test of Paper Beast, the latest game from French designer Eric Chahi, I actually looked at Another World, a monument to action-adventure and the snowman's first successful game. The game was released on a plaster of supports until land ing on smartphones. It offers two types of controls: a very classic

, with directional cross on the left and action buttons on the right; and another more “modern”, where the ends of the screen allow you to move and draw your weapon, and where you have to slide up to jump. In both cases, I found myself rather dissatisfied, often lacking in responsiveness in demanding gunfights.

This lack of responsiveness, I also felt it on Oddmar, a platform game where you play as a Viking. Visually, it's very neat (it reminds a lot of the excellent Rayman Origins and Legends. Nothing to say. But what does it drag in terms of travel? I had the impression of playing a nice title whose rhythm would have limited the rhythm to make it fit into a phone. But on the bottom, that is understood: without pad in the hands, not possible to react to the quarter turn when an enemy rushes at you. We must therefore allow the player time to do his manipulations so as not to create frustration.

Oddmar – Platform game available on Android and iOS

However, good platform games on smartphones exist: Super Mario Run which we have already mentioned but also the Rayman Mini, Adventures and Fiesta Run; just like the very good Downwell, a rogue-lite where the player falls indefinitely in a precipice infested with monsters. What do all these games have in common? The player goes automatically in one direction (down for Downwell and right for the others). These titles thus restore the dynamism of a good platform game while keeping gameplay simple as pie: you can do everything with a finger. And it's important comfort level on smartphone.

GO, GO, GO!

Games like the ones we just mentioned suggest that “smartphone / touch” constraints (or forces) can be integrated directly into the rules of the game, in game design. That's why in my opinion, Lara Croft GO and Hitman GO work so well (not yet had time to do Deus Ex GO but it's free until May 7 on iOS and Android). And it can be explained simply: Square Enix has extracted the key elements of its licenses to create good games, perfectly adapted to mobile.

More concretely, in the "GO" series, you have to go from point A to point B in grid levels. It happens on a turn-by-turn basis. As soon as you take a step, the enemies, traps and other things that want your death move too. It sounds simple like that, but it gets wickedly complex at the end. The rhythm is set there, and we are not frustrated because we missed a hiding place or a close enemy because of this cursed touch. It’s just very well thought out. And even the DA allows itself to be superb.

I could also tell you about the two Monument Valley that perfectly integrate the portrait format of the smartphone in their staging ; or of A Normal Lost Phone and the destabilizing side that there is to search a virtual phone while holding a real smartphone in his hand ; or even the mobile version of Teamfight Tactics. No actually, not that. I am not very strategy games. But I like smartphone games pretty much now.